Find a Book Festival
Scotland is a nation of readers and boasts more than 50 book and literary festivals held throughout the year from Stornoway to the Scottish Borders and from the Western Isles to Aberdeen.
We aim to collate a full, up-to-date list of all the book festivals taking place in Scotland so please let us know if there are any events that should be included or details to be updated via email on admin@literaturealliancescotland.co.uk or on Twitter @LitScotland.
Happy reading around the nation!
Book Festivals in Scotland
| MONTH | DATE | EVENT | WEBSITE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JANUARY | tbc 2021 | Burns&Beyond | @burnsandbeyond | burnsandbeyond.com |
| tbc 2021 | Further From Festival Linlithgow | @Furtherfrom | website | |
| FEBRUARY | 18-27 Feb 2021 | Paisley Book Festival | @BookPaisley | paisleybookfest.com |
| 19-21 Feb 2021 | Granite Noir Online Aberdeen | @GraniteNoirFest #GraniteNoirFest | granitenoir.com | |
| ** | 25 Feb 2021 | A Gray Day | grayday.info | |
| tbc | Winter Words Festival Pitlochry | @PITLOCHRYft | website | |
| tbc | Hooked Dumfries | |||
| MARCH | 3-7 Mar 2021 | Big Bang Weekend 2021 Wigtown | Website | |
| 6-7 Mar 2021 | Write By The Sea Argyll | @secret_coast | writebythesea.co.uk | |
| 6-14 Mar 2021 | StAnza Poetry Festival Scotland's International Poetry Festival, St Andrews | @StAnzaPoetry #StAnza20 | stanza poetry.org | |
| end Mar 2021 | British Wildlife Book Festival Grantown-on-Spey | @BookWildlife | @BookWildlife | |
| tbc Mar 2021 | Southside Fringe 'Plugged In & Wired' Glasgow's Southside | @KeepItSouth | southsidefringe.com | |
| tbc 2021 | Small Print Children's Book Festival from Off the Page, Stirling | Facebook page | ||
| tbc 2021 | Wee Write! | @AyeWrite | ayewrite.com/weewrite | |
| tbc 2021 | AyeWrite! Glasgow's Book Festival | @AyeWrite | ayewrite.com | |
| APRIL | tbc 2021 | BIG LIT: The Stewartry Book Festival Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries & Galloway | biglit.org | |
| tbc 2021 | Glasgow Zine Fest | @GlasgowZineLib | Glasgow Zine Fest | |
| tbc 2021 | John O'Groat's Book Festival | Facebook page | ||
| tbc 2021 | Big DoG Children's Book Festival Wigtown | @BigDog_Fest | ||
| tbc 2021 | Colonsay Book Festival | @ColonsayBookFes #CBF20 | colonsaybookfestival.org.uk | |
| tbc | Soutar Festival of Words | Website | ||
| MAY | tbc 2021 | Boswell Book Festival Dumfries House, Ayrshire | @bozzyfest | boswellbookfestival.co.uk |
| 7-9 May 2021 | Ullapool Book Festival Ross-shire, Scottish Highlands | @UllapoolBookFes | ullapoolbookfestival.co.uk | |
| tbc 2021 | Open the Door digital festival from Glasgow Women's Library | @womenslibrary | Open the Door | |
| tbc 2021 | Connect with Nature at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh | @BotanicsStories | stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/28605 | |
| tbc 2021 | Coastword Dunbar | @CoastWordFest | coastword.co.uk |
|
| tbc 2021 | May Festival University of Aberdeen | abdn.ac.uk/mayfestival | ||
| JUNE | tbc 2021 | Cymera Book Festival | @CymeraF | cymerafestival.co.uk |
| JULY | 1-4 July 2021 | East Neuk Festival | @EastNeukFest #ENF21 | eastneukfestival.com |
| tbc 2021 | Glasgow Comic Con Scotland's Comic Book Festival | @glasgowcomiccon | glasgowcomiccon.com | |
| tbc | Scot Lit Fest Scotland's virtual book festival presented by Saltire Society | @scotlitfest #scotlitfest | scotlitfest.scot | |
| tbc 2021 | Govanhill International Festival and Carnival (Glasgow's Southside) | @GovanhillBaths | govanhillbaths.com/festival | |
| July 30-1 Aug 2021 | Bute Noir Crime Writing Festival Isle of Bute | @ButeNoir #butenoir | butenoir.co.uk | |
| AUGUST | tbc 2021 | Book Fringe | @BookFringe | bookfringe.com |
| 6-15 Aug 2021 | Fringe by the Sea North Berwick | @fringebythesea2 | fringebythesea.com | |
| 14-30 Aug 2021 | Edinburgh International Book Festival | @edbookfest #edbookfest | edbookfest.co.uk | |
| tbc | ScotlandsFest at Edinburgh Fringe, from Luath Press | @LuathPress | ScotlandsFest | |
| tbc 2021 | Islay Book Festival | @islaybookfest | islaybookfestival.co.uk | |
| tbc 2021 | Beyond Borders International Festival of Literature and Thought | @BeyondBorders__ | beyondbordersscotland.com | |
| 26 Aug-5 Sep 2021 | McLellan Art Festival, Arran Celebrating late great Scottish dramatist and short story writer Robert McLellan | arrantheatreandarts.co.uk/mclellan-festival | ||
| 28 & 29 Aug 2021 | Three Lochs Book & Arts Festival Strontian | threelochs.co.uk | ||
| SEPTEMBER | tbc 2021 | Spirit of Moray Book Festival Elgin | @librariesmoray #SpiritofMoray | |
| tbc 2021 | Outwith Festival Dunfermline | @outwithfestival #weareoutwith | outwithfestival.co.uk | |
| 4-12 Sep 2021 | Nairn Book & Arts Festival Inverness | @Nairn_Festival | nairnfestival.co.uk | |
| 15-19 Sep 2021 | Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival | @BordersBookFest #bordersbookfest21 | bordersbookfestival.org | |
| 17-19 Sep 2021 | Bloody Scotland Scotland's international crime writing festival, Stirling | @BloodyScotland #bloodyscotland | bloodyscotland.com | |
| tbc 2021 | Words of War Book Festival The Black Watch Castle & Museum, Perth | theblackwatch.co.uk/events/words-of-war-book-festival | ||
| tbc 2021 | Tidelines Irvine, North Ayrshire | @TidelinesFest | tidelinesbookfest.com | |
| tbc 2021 | Wigtown Book Festival Scotland's national book town's literary festival | @WigtownBookFest #wigtown | wigtownbookfestival.com | |
| tbc 2021 | Bookends Benderloch, Oban | |||
| OCTOBER | tbc 2021 | Imprint Book Festival East Ayrshire | Website | |
| tbc 2021 | Ness Book Fest Inverness | @NessBookFest1 | nessbookfest.co.uk | |
| 1-3 Oct 2021 | Bookmark Book Festival, Blairgowrie | @bookmarkblair | bookmarkblair.com | |
| tbc 2021 | Boswell Book Festival Dumfries House, Ayrshire | @bozzyfest | boswellbookfestival.co.uk | |
| 14-17 Oct 2021 | Berwick Literary Festival Northumberland | @BerwickLitFest | berwickliteraryfestival.com | |
| tbc 2021 | Word "off" the Street - Dingwall's October Art Festival | word-on-the-street.weebly.com | ||
| tbc 2021 | Scottish International Storytelling Festival Edinburgh | @ScotStoryCentre | sisf.org.uk | |
| 29-31 Oct 2021 | West Over Sea - Tobermory Book Festival | @TobermoryBookF1 | Westoversea.co.uk | |
| tbc 2021 | Orkney Storytelling Festival | @OrkneyStoF | orkneystorytellingfestival.co.uk | |
| tbc 2021 | Faclan Hebridean Book Festival An Lanntair, Stornoway | @anlanntair | lanntair.com/creative-programme/faclan | |
| tbc 2021 | Tarbert Book Festival Argyll | @TarbertBookFest | tarbertbookfestival.org | |
| NOVEMBER | tbc 2021 | Wordplay Shetland Arts' annual book festival | @ShetlandArts | www.shetlandarts.org |
| 12-14 Nov 2021 | A Write Highland Hoolie! Mallaig's Book Festival | @WriteHoolie | a-write-highland-hoolie.com | |
| 13 Nov 2021 | Robert Louis Stevenson Day Annual week of events in Edinburgh and online in run up to RLS' birthday on 13 Nov | #RLSDay | ||
| tbc 2021 | Book Week Scotland | @BookWeekScot | bookweekscotland.com | |
| tbc 2021 | Uist Book Festival | uistbookfestival.org | ||
| tbc 2021 | Cove and Kilcreggan Book Festival Argyll & Bute | @coveburghhall | coveburghhall.org.uk |